One in a series of caches by Somerset Wildlife Trust to celebrate Somerset's Brilliant Coast.
Dunster Beach:
Dunster beach is brilliant space to relax and a for children to explore and play. The English Coast Path passes along the top of beach heading to Minehead to the east and Blue Anchor to the west. The walk is delightful delightful with something to enjoy whatever the season. The mix of well vegetated sand dunes, the long shingle bank and the fine sand on the lower shore has created a fantastic coastal habitat creating homes for a rich variety of wildlife throughout the year.
Dunster beach is a great place to look for seaweeds, with a good number of the 120 or so recorded in Somerset found here including the brown seaweeds Channelled Wrack, Bladder Wrack, Toothed Wrack and Egg Wrack, the red seaweeds Common Coral Weed and Pink Paint Weed and the green seaweeds Sea Lettuce and Gut Weed.
Seaweeds are not plants they are Macro Algae. Unlike plants seaweeds have no roots instead they have a holdfast which literally does what the word suggests it just holds the seaweed fast onto the rock.
If you spend a little time searching under seaweeds as the tide drops you will find Common Shore Crabs and also young Edible Crabs. Also, amongst the seaweed are Common Periwinkles, Flat Periwinkles, which are often orange, and Common and Flat Topshells which are beautiful marine snails. In rockpools you may be lucky enough to find small fish called Sand Gobies, Common Prawns and Hermit Crabs.
At low tide it is possible to see the reefs built by the Honeycomb Worm Saballeria alveolata. These worms build a honeycomb like structure from grains of sand. These are surely one of the best kept secrets of the Somerset Coast. They may not be coral reefs but these reefs still swarm with life in the way that tropical reefs do.
During the winter months, Dunster beach is a great place to see wading birds such as distinctive Oystercatchers (with their black and white plumage and heavy red bill making it virtually unmistakable) and Curlews (distinguished by their long curved beaks) which come into feed on the sand flats at low tide. You may be lucky enough to see Ringed Plover who often come to rest and feed on this beach during the spring and autumn migration time on their way between their breeding grounds in northern Europe to winter in southern Spain. Some pairs have even stayed to breed and nest on the single ridges.
The sandy upper shore between Dunster Beach and Minehead is home to a variety of stunning plantlife. The sand and shingle banks in front of Dunster’s beach chalets is most spectacular in June and July when the flowers of fragrant Evening Primrose, common vetch and the purple flowers of Viper’s Bugloss combine to make a stunning display. This makes a summer walk along the coast path between Minehead and Dunster beach a rewarding experience.
To find out more about Dunster Beach and the variety of events and activities going on all along Somerset’s coast, please click here.
Two words of warning:
This area gets very busy on a pleasant day, so stealth is essential
Some of the caches border the golf course. Please stay on the seaward side of the white posts
Although pay and display parking is available very close to these caches, you may want to park at either Minehead or Blue Anchor where parking is free, walk the coast path to pick up all the caches and then use the West Somerset Railway to return to your car.
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